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About 500 young women from the Mekong provinces of An Giang and Dong Thap will receive scholarships in what is an effort to keep them at schools and prevent trafficking of young women.
To be provided by three non-governmental organisations (NGOs), Pacific Links Foundation, East Meets West Foundation and International Children Assistance Network, they will be handed over at functions to be held separately in the provinces next week.
The scholarships will help the young girl students from poor families pay for school fees, health and accident insurance, uniforms, text-books, school materials and after-school tutoring support.
The SPELL (Scholarship Programme to Enhance Literacy and Learning) scholarships aimed to support young women from poor families remain at school, a statement from the East Meets West Foundation’s Da Nang office said.
The main counterparts for this programme are the An Giang and Dong Thap Associations to Foster Education.
The statement also mentioned the NGOs’ commitment to continue the assistance until the beneficiaries finished high school.
The SPELL scholarship programme is part of a collaborative effort to prevent trafficking of young women across borders by the three Vietnamese-American NGOs. Under this effort, many more international NGOs hope to provide disadvantaged young women with more life choices.
In addition to scholarships, the programme assists with vocational training and employment for uneducated young women in poverty. It also provides reintegration support for girls rescued after being trafficked.
In addition to the scholarships in An Giang and Dong Thap, during the 2005-2006 school year, the SPELL Programme delivers similar assistance to over 2,500 students in primary and junior high schools in central Viet Nam
Vietnamnews - (31/08/2005)
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